Justification By Faith

Psalm 24:3-6 NIV

“Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.”

“They will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face, God of Jacob.”

Even though the blood of animals could never really be a satisfactory sacrifice for the sins committed before Jesus’ sacrifice God the Father did not punish the sins of the faithful but withheld His punishment until it could be carried out by placing it upon His One and Only Son. That is mercy!

OK. Let’s go back to the beginning of verse 25 and the end of verse 26

Romans 3:25-26 NIV

“God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood - to be received by faith … He did it to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

What do we see in these verses?

“God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood …”

I know we talked about atonement last Sunday but this is one of the most amazing thoughts in the whole Bible; God the Father (or the Triune Godhead) presenting Jesus the Messiah, the only begotten Son of God as a sacrifice (to be put to death!) as an atonement (a covering, a payment of penalty or ransom) for our sin by the shedding of His blood! Can you believe it?

How do we receive this atonement? By faith. By believing. By surrendering our lives to the Lord out of grateful hearts. Amazing, isn’t it?

“He did this to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time …”

Is there anything more righteous that you can think of than the all powerful, all knowing, ever present, Holy, Holy, Holy Creator of all things shedding His blood and giving His life to pay the penalty for lowly, sinful, created creatures?

“… so as to be just and the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

The only way God could be just would be to condemn the guilty and acquit the innocent. But since we are all guilty we were doomed. However … the only true sacrifice that could ever be made that would satisfy the requirements of a just God was paid by Jesus and by His act of self-sacrificing mercy we can be declared not guilty! Acquitted! Righteous! Hallelujah!

And, once again this justice is not by works of righteousness on our part but by faith in Jesus! Bu believing, by surrendering our lives to the Lord out of grateful hearts! Amazing, isn’t it!!!????

Now, here’s something we can’t miss. We are justified, acquitted of our sins by faith in Jesus. We are also saved by faith in Jesus.

Salvation is often referred to as justification. We don’t ever ask someone, “Have been you justified?” But, we may very well ask them, “Are you saved, born again?”